Talladega-Kansas Chase switch discussed for over a year
KANSAS CITY, Kansas – NASCAR has had conversations about swapping the race dates at Talladega and Kansas in the fall for over a year.
The switch for 2017, made public Thursday, moves Talladega from the sixth race to the Chase to the fifth. It makes Kansas the sixth race and therefore the final race of the second round of the Chase. Talladega has been the final race of the second round in the first three years of the four-round Chase format.
"And so when we looked at it we looked at a lot of different things – had a lot of different input across the board and it's not a new conversation," NASCAR Senior Vice President Jim Cassidy said Thursday. "It's more than a year ongoing and the way we looked at it is we've got an incredible racing product at Talladega and in order to looking at maximizing the schedule, we know that Talladega no matter where we place it in the Chase is going to provide a very high level of racing action and it just really stands on its own."
"So we saw the opportunity to make a switch and then to put Kansas in the cutoff spot and we're excited about that because as you know we've worked on our rules package over the last couple years and so bringing what we know to be a very successful rules package and low downforce to Kansas is going to be great at that cutoff."
Last fall's Talladega race was chaotic, to say the least. It was marred by two crashes on restarts at the end of the race. The final crash, started when Kevin Harvick's suffering car made contact with Trevor Bayne, kept Harvick in the Chase and ultimately prevented Dale Earnhardt Jr. from advancing to the next round. Junior passed race-winner Joey Logano after the caution had been issued. The field is frozen at the moment of caution.
The move means Kansas Speedway's race date is October 22. The average high temperature for that day is 63 degrees, but as anyone who lives in the middle part of the country can attest, it could be 70 or 40 and neither temperature would be surprising.
But while weather could be a concern in the midwest, concerns about having a restrictor plate race determine the field of eight drivers to make the third round of the Chase likely won out. Yes, Talladega counts just as much as the second race in the second round as it does in the third.
But having it in a position where teams have one more opportunity to make the Chase may soften the track's tendency for randomness or areas where drivers can manipulate races. More than one driver felt after last fall's Talladega race that Harvick made contact with Bayne intentionally (and no, we're not ignoring the bumper Joey Logano put to Matt Kenseth last year at Kansas).
“[Harvick] pulled out of the way the first time because he knew he was blowing up and this time he said he was going to hold his lane, so we went up to go around him and then he clipped [Bayne]," Kenseth said after the race. "He knew if he put him in a slow spin the race was over and he’d make it, so, like I said, it feels we lost control here the last two weeks. I don’t think that’s what racing is about. The spot they put us in, it’s hard to blame people, but that’s not what racing’s all about.”
When asked about a road course race in the Chase, Cassidy said he wouldn't rule it out. NASCAR recently signed a five-year sanctioning agreement with its tracks meaning that the schedule (save for its order) is basically set for the near future. That means Watkins Glen and Sonoma are the only two near-term candidates to move to the Chase.
"I wouldn't rule anything out at this point if it means optimizing what we've got within our portfolio, then it's not something we'd ignore," Cassidy said.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
